


This Isn't Control

by pleasanthell



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-04
Updated: 2014-09-04
Packaged: 2018-02-16 03:42:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2254563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gail shook her head. She was in shock. She couldn’t really believe anything that was going on. It was all so surreal. </p><p>Then more officers arrived, lining the street with cars on both sides. Crime scene technicians that worked with Holly started combing the house. A bulletin had been put out saying that Holly was missing. </p><p>Gail just watched all of it happen. Every step that was taken was according to protocol, but the pace everyone was moving made her feel so out of control. She had shown absolutely no emotion the entire time. She stood at the door and was just staring at the townhouse, trying to figure out what was happening. Her brain just couldn’t seem to snap the pieces into place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Isn't Control

Gail was tired. She’d been on shift for ten hours, plus a few hours hanging around a crime scene, keeping nosy people away. She was the first one to leave and that was only because she told Oliver Holly just got back in town and she would buy his next round at the Penny.

On her way over, Gail didn’t call Holly. Holly had given her a key to her townhouse and told her to come over whenever. Gail showed up in the middle of the night quite often and Holly loved waking up and finding Gail in her bed. Gail loved it too. It had been a long day and Gail just wanted to lie down next to Holly.

When she pulled to a stop behind Holly’s car, Gail smiled to herself. For the first time in a long time, things were great. Her job was going well. Her relationship was going well. Gail was mere weeks away from Sophie officially moving in with her.

Gail grabbed her duty bag and got out of the car. It was extremely early in the morning and Gail didn’t want to wake Holly up so she unlocked the door as quietly as she could. Turning the lock felt weird, but Gail figured it was just her overworked brain and body. She could not wait to crash in Holly’s bed.

It was dark in the townhouse, which was odd because Holly usually left a light on during nights that Gail was working late. It was probably because Holly was just as exhausted as Gail. Since she turned down the job in San Francisco, the company that wanted to hire her offered her almost the full salary for flying down a few days a month. Sometimes they called in her to consult on a huge case so Holly had to leave at a moment’s notice. Holly had been gone the past few days and when she called Gail that afternoon, Gail new exactly where she was going to be spending the night.

Gail got out her phone as she walked down the dark entry way. There was a light switch next to the kitchen that would guide her path straight to the fridge. However, before she could hit the switch, she kicked something on the ground. It was hard and made a scraping noise across the floor.

Gail pushed it out of the way with her foot and took another step, easily reaching the light switch. She immediately looked behind her and saw that the coat rack was lying across the ground, coat and jackets resting under it. Gail bent down and picked it up, putting it back in its place. Gail rearranged the coats so that it was all balanced and the rack would fall again. She threw her coat on top of it and sat on the bench to untie her shoes.

Gail ran a hand through her hair. Holly must have been really tired because she usually she was a light sleeper and she definitely would have heard something like that falling.

As Gail untied her second boot, she thought she heard something and looked toward the living room. What she saw sent a cold shot through her body. Gail quickly dug unto her duty bag and took out her off duty gun. She clicked off the safety and stood slowly.

The living room was pristine except for the path from the front door to the stairs. Books were knocked off the shelves; a lamp was knocked over sending shards of the glass base all over the floor. Gail quickly tucked her shoe laces into her shoes and walked toward the stairs. There was a single shoe sitting sideways about halfway up the stairs.

Gail listened again, turning on the light to the upstairs hallway. She couldn’t hear anything so she slowly made her way up the stairs with her gun pointed at the ground. At the top of the stairs, Gail checked the bathroom which appeared perfectly normal. She went gun first into Holly’s home office. There was nothing out of place there either. However when she got to the bedroom, she found the door ajar. There were blankets halfway out the door. One corner of the blankets was pointed out the door while the opposite corner was still on the bed. The bedroom had been absolutely trashed. There was an open book on the ground next to the door. Holly’s laptop was on its back, on the floor next to the side of the bed where the blankets had been pulled off.

When she was sure that she was the only one in her house, Gail called the police. Gail’s entire body was shaking. She tried calling Holly, only to find that Holly’s phone rang upstairs in her bedroom.

Gail was standing on the front porch when the first squad car arrived. Inside the townhouse, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. The whole situation was crushing down on top of her. When the door to the squad car opened, Andy got out of the driver’s seat, still in full uniform.

“What happened?” Andy asked immediately.

Gail shook her head. She was in shock. She couldn’t really believe anything that was going on. It was all so surreal.

Then more officers arrived, lining the street with cars on both sides. Crime scene technicians that worked with Holly started combing the house. A bulletin had been put out saying that Holly was missing.

Gail just watched all of it happen. Every step that was taken was according to protocol, but the pace everyone was moving made her feel so out of control. She had shown absolutely no emotion the entire time. She stood at the door and was just staring at the townhouse, trying to figure out what was happening. Her brain just couldn’t seem to snap the pieces into place.

When one of the senior investigators came out of the house and went to speak with Oliver, she followed, finally moving. She didn’t even notice that Dov had been standing next to her the entire time, talking to her.

“We found a few strands of hair that had been ripped out in the bathroom,” the investigator explained to Oliver and the detectives that were standing around him. “It seems that Dr. Stewart…was making sure to leave evidence behind. We’ll get to processing them right away.”

Traci was the first detective to spot Gail listening. She moved to Gail with Steve following her.

“Now that the techs are done with the downstairs area,” Traci touched Gail’s arm. “We need to go take a look around.” She didn’t want Gail to feel left out of the process. She knew what that was like.

“I’m coming with you,” Gail stated. She crossed her arms and set her jaw. She looked to her brother, hoping that he knew she was serious and she wasn’t going anywhere.

Steve nodded understandingly, “You’ll be able to tell us if anything is different.”

Oliver had the rest of the detectives head back to the division to start going through cases that could connect to that one and to start trying to piece together where Holly had been.

In the townhouse, Gail looked around at all the evidence markers, showing all the things that she missed when she walked into the house the first time. It was all so wrong. All the little yellow tents with numbers on them littered the ground. Gail wanted to straighten up the living room because Holly always kept it so clean.

After she clenched her fists to try to remember the reality of the situation, Gail followed Traci and Steve. She had a job to do. She was a police officer and was trained to keep working under stress. She was looking for anything that was out of place that hadn’t been marked.

Steve and Traci flanked Gail as she walked up the stairs. She went straight to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. Her whole body was trembling when she looked over the place she was sure Holly had been taken from. There standing in the doorway was the first time she was allowed herself to think the words ‘taken’ and ‘abduction’. It was like being kicked in the stomach.

“Has anyone taken a particular interest in Holly lately?” Steve asked his sister formally as he put some latex gloves on. There was already black powder on most of the surfaces, meaning that fingerprints were already on their way to the lab.

Gail shook her head, “No. At least not when I was with her.” Gail sighed, “She’s been in San Francisco for three days. She just came back tonight.”

“You know we need all the flight information,” Traci told Gail gently.

Gail nodded. She looked in her phone where Holly had texted her all the information. Gail just forwarded the text to Traci, Steve, and Swarek. Gail found it ironic that she asked Holly to give her all the flight information for Holly’s safety. A fat lot of good that did.

Traci picked up Holly’s laptop and moved her gloved finger over the touchpad. The broken screen flickered to life. Traci saw that there was a large web browser window open under a small notepad window. What was on the notepad was obscured by a large fracture in the screen from its fall off of the bed, but she could see that Holly was about to log into her Medical Examiner’s Officer database. “It looks like she was working. Were there any families that were angry with her over an autopsy or something?”

Gail looked around the bedroom where Holly slept. The bed where she had started sleeping more frequently. Holly used to hold her after a long shift, but more than Holly holding her, they held each other through the entire night. Gail blinked away the memories and licked her lips, “Um, not that I know of. She was in court last week though.”

Traci moved the notepad window to the upper right corner, away from the largest crack in the screen to see what it said. After her eyes examined every letter, she looked up, “Steve. Come here.”

Both Steve and Gail walked over. Traci knew that Gail was going to see what was typed in the program eventually so she didn’t try to shield the laptop from either Peck.

In the window, a cursor was blinking at the end of a single line: 1146pm wm brown hair 40 75kg glasses tan coat w/black stains.

“She saw him,” Steve quietly thought out loud. “She saw him and gave us a description.”

That was what sent Gail over the edge. Holly knew something bad was going to happen and she was building a case to save herself. Tears clouded Gail’s eyes and Steve had to escort her out of the house.

Dov drove Gail back to 15 Division where she sat in the back of the parade room, waiting for the latest update. The room was crowded. She was sure that the crime lab was busier than it had ever been. Everyone loved Holly and from what she saw at Holly’s place – the crime scene, they were all doing what they could as quickly as they could to get her back.

“Listen up,” Oliver called as he walked in. He walked to the front of the room. “Dr. Stewart was abducted from her home tonight at 11:46. She managed to get a look at the guy and gave us a basic description of him. White male with brown hair about 40 years old, weighing about 75kg. He was wearing a tan coat with black stains and glasses.” He looked around and paused when he saw Gail. He leaned on his podium and said, “Peck, Nash has some questions for you in my office.”

Gail frowned. She knew that was just a way to get her out of the room. “No.” She stayed where she was. “I’m staying here.”

Oliver picked up a piece of paper out of his folder and went on, knowing he wasn’t going to win a battle of wills with Gail. He put the printed out picture on the board behind him, “This is a picture taken by a game camera one of Holl- Dr. Stewart’s neighbors set up to find out what kind of critters were getting in the garbage.” It was a picture of Holly wheeling her luggage away from a car. “ This picture was taken at 11:07 p.m. in front of the house. Here is a picture,” Oliver put another picture up next to the first one, “Taken at 11:45 p.m. in the same location.”

Gail’s breath caught when she saw what kind of car it was. She put her hand over her mouth and felt herself getting sick. Oliver looked at her and she just nodded, telling him to go on.

“The taxi seen in front of Dr. Stewart’s house was found abandoned at a gas station about fifteen miles from Dr. Stewart’s residence,” Oliver put up another picture of a gas station parking lot. “Forensics has gone over every inch of the car and put a rush on everything that was found…”

That was the last of what Gail heard before she walked out of the room. She couldn’t handle anymore. She needed to move around so she paced the length of the hallway as she thought trying to figure out what to do next or what she could do to help.

Gail knew who was behind this. She knew the psychotic freak who had set the plan into motion.

Gail was so deep in thought, she ran right into Rodney who was walking in with a blue file in his hand. He started to walk around her, but Gail grabbed him by the lapels of his lab coat, keeping him from moving away. “What do you have?”

Rodney looked at Gail. He was white as a ghost and looked terrified. He looked up and down the hallway, “I’m supposed to go straight to-”

“I don’t give a shit,” Gail growled, “Holly has been abducted and I need to know what’s going on.” She snatched the file out of his hand. She turned away from him as she opened it and looked through the first page. It was the report for the interior of the car. As she read, she started to feel faint. The more she knew, the worse everything got. She dropped the file and moved to the trash can where she threw up.  She wiped her mouth with her sleeve when she was done and turned to Rodney, “The ketamine and the ACP were in the car?”

Swarek walked over to them as Rodney added nervously, “The ketamine and ACP were in a large concentration in the backseat, among broken glass fragments.”

Swarek took the folder from Rodney, angry that he had told Gail anything. Swarek looked over the file, “So someone dropped a vial of it in the backseat.”

“More like,” Rodney swallowed, his eyes moving from Gail to Swarek, “More like someone deliberately stepped on it. The fragments are much too small to be just from a break.”

“Holly stepped on it,” Gail stated, like she knew exactly that happened. Holly was still building a case for her survival. Gail rubbed her eyes and told Swarek, “I’m going to Milbourne Prison.”

Swarek caught Gail’s arm, “Hold on. I just called up there. He’s still in the prison. I had a guard go check to make sure he was still in his bed.”

“Yeah, I know,” Gail pulled her arm away from Swarek, “I’m going to strangle him there.”

“Peck,” Swarek called, “That won’t help get Holly back.”

Gail clenched her jaw, “What do you want me to do? Stand around here and wait for the happy resolution?” Gail scoffed and shook her head, “No. I’m going to go beat the truth out of Ross Perrick.”

“That’s what he wants,” Swarek moved around Gail to stand between him and the door, “He wants to see you again. Think about it. Holly doesn’t fit the MO. She’s in her late twenties. She’s got brown hair. She’s not his type. He’s trying to get your attention.”

“What happens if we give him my attention?” Gail asked, “Maybe we’ll get Holly more time.”

“And maybe he won’t need Holly anymore,” Swarek explained, “Let’s go back in the parade room. We’ll talk to Nash and Shaw and see what they want to do. Look, you’re not thinking clearly. You’re upset. I get it. This is like a one two punch for you, but we have to keep our heads.”

Gail’s brain was so focused on the fact that Holly was gone it didn’t really even register yet what she could be going through. She was led to the parade room that had become the hub of the investigation. It seemed that Nash and Shaw were already talking about Perrick.

After a few minutes, Gail looked baffled. “Why are we even talking about this?” Gail asked, leaning on the table, “I’m going to talk to him and we’re going to get Holly back no matter what.”

“He wants to see you. He wants to talk to you,” Swarek explained, “He’s going to drag everything out for as long as he can because he wants to see you.”

Gail leaned forward on the table, “Then let me talk to him. I’ll tell him anything. I’ll tell him that I’m in love with him if it’ll get Holly back.”

“You know if you lie to him, he’s going to know,” Traci told Gail evenly, “I watched the tapes of the last time you talked to him. You can’t be desperate or he’s going to enjoy it way too much to let it end.”

“The plates on the car were stolen out of a junk yard off of a totaled vehicle,” Andy walked in with a folder. She handed it to Swarek and crossed her arms, “The original car in both of Perrick’s previous abductions was crushed last year. It’s the same plate though.”

“He wants us to know it’s him,” Gail ran both of her hands through her hair, completely exasperated, “He’s fucking with us now.” She picked up a chair and shoved it back into place under the table. “What about the hair Holly pulled out?”

“It’s going to take a little longer,” Andy told Gail gently so she didn’t anger her more.

Gail huffed, “Right. Can’t rush the polymerase chain reaction.” She shook her head, “I can’t just sit her.” She looked to Oliver, “What do I do?”

Oliver slowly stood up and put his hand on Gail’s shoulder, “You know there’s nothing you can do.”

Gail’s anger was starting to give way to fear. Her eyes started to water, “Oliver, I can’t just sit here.”

Oliver looked at the others in the room. He put his hands in his pockets and told them, “McNally, go to the lab and stand over someone’s shoulder until we get a DNA profile. Then have it run on against every inmate who has ever been in Milbourne, then everyone who has ever visited Milbourne, then everyone in the city.”

Andy got what Oliver was getting at. She quickly walked out the door.

Oliver said he was taking Gail to his office, leaving the detectives with their pictures and maps in the parade room. Gail followed Oliver to his office and stepped helplessly inside. Oliver closed the door behind him and stood in front of Gail. He put his hands on her shoulders, “This is scary right? And it’s okay to freak out. We all love Holly and we’re doing our best, but you love her the most.”

Tears started to trickle down Gail’s face, “It’s my fault isn’t it? Things like this don’t just happen to people.”

“They do, darlin’,” Oliver pulled Gail into his arms and rubbed her back, “Sometimes bad things happen to good people. It’s not fair, but it’s how it works.”

Gail rested her cheek on Oliver’s shoulder and closed her eyes, letting the tears fall down her cheeks. She bit her lip and tried to steel herself again. “You have to let me help find her. Nothing can happen to her.”

Oliver nodded and rubbed her back, “You can help. Just stay with me. You might remember something everyone else doesn’t.” He pulled back and looked into Gail’s eyes. He held her shoulders so she would look at him, “And Holly’s smart. She’s freaky smart. She’s already shown that she can keep her head. She’ll be fine.”

Gail nodded. She knew that Holly was beyond intelligent. She knew that she was capable and calm. She may not have had Gail’s self-defense skill set, but Gail had made sure to teach her enough that given the chance Holly could land a few choice strikes and get away.

“Better?” Oliver asked Gail.

Gail wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go find her.”

Oliver and Gail walked back to the parade room. The detectives were all silent, gathered around a tv that they wheeled in. It was surveillance video of the parking lot. The cab was sitting in the parking lot for a moment before a man got out. He fit Holly’s description perfectly.

He looked around and moved to the backseat of the car. He opened the door and was almost hit with the door. He slammed the door shut and ran to the other side of the car. He took something out of his pocket and his top half disappeared into the backseat. A few seconds later, he stood up and looked around again. Then he pulled Holly’s limb body out of the back of her car.

“That’s where the first video ends,” Traci explained. “But the construction company next door recently put up cameras because someone has been stealing lumber.” Traci switched the video using her laptop and it showed a different angle. The man was carrying Holly to a truck. He put her in the backseat and then got in the driver’s seat before looking almost directly at the camera where Traci stopped it.

“That truck belongs to Carlton Jacobson,” Traci went on. “McNally spoke to Carlton. Carlton was asleep when McNally arrived and was surprised that his truck missing as well as his roommate.” Traci rubbed her eyes, “Carlton said that they’ve only been roommates for a few months and that his roommate’s name is Ross Perrick. Forensics is on their way over to the apartment to get some fingerprints or DNA.”

Gail rubbed her eyes. Perrick was getting better at training his little army of sociopaths. When she closed her eyes, she could see where she was held after she was taken. She could feel the needs and the straps holding her down and knowing that Holly was going through the same thing…

“I have to go talk to him,” Gail finally blurted out. “I’m going to go talk to him. It’s what worked last time.”

Oliver clenched his jaw and rubbed his chin. He nodded, “Fine. Swarek take Peck to the prison.”

Swarek sped lights and sirens all the way to the prison. Gail just sat in the passenger’s seat getting more angry and more angry the closer they got.

They were taken straight to an interview room. Gail saw Perrick sitting in the room, chained to a table, reading a book.

“He hasn’t had any unsupervised visitors and only staff psychologists,” the warden walked behind Swarek into the room with a small binder, “With what happened last time.”

Sam got on his phone and nodded to Gail. He was going to read the names of the visitors to Traci so she could run them, while Gail did her best to coax a location out of Perrick.

Gail opened the door. This time she wasn’t scared or nervous. She wasn’t reliving some terror that happened to her in the past. She was in the present and she was pissed.

The door slammed shut behind her when she stepped into the room. Perrick was so startled he dropped his book to the floor. Gail kicked it away from him and leaned on the back of the chair, “What do you want?”

“Gail,” Perrick smiled like Gail was his neighbor coming over to talk about the weather, “How are you?”

“Where is she?” Gail asked, not deviating from her directive.

Perrick shook his head, “I’m afraid that I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Fine,” Gail turned around and put her hand on the door handle, “I’ll find her myself.”

“Are you sure you have enough time?” Perrick asked back. It was a dare. Leave and try to find Holly or stay and play the game.

Gail turned around and looked at him. She rubbed her eyes, “What do you want?”

Perrick tilted his head, “Tell me about this girl that’s been taken.”

“Woman,” Gail snapped.

Perrick gestured to the chair in front of him. Gail begrudgingly sat down in it. Perrick folded his hands and raised his eyebrows like he was waiting for her to speak.

“She’s a forensic pathologist,” Gail started spewing information, “She graduated top of her medical school class. She consults in San Francisco because she is a rock star. Her friends are pretty cool except for that one that I don’t like to talk to. When she’s nervous, she bakes. When she’s really nervous, she goes to the park and plays basketball by herself. She’s never forgotten to tell me that she loves me before I go on shift.” Gail pressed her hands against the table, “I need to know where she is.”

“Tell me something that only you know about her,” Perrick tilted his head.

Gail shrugged. “I don’t know.  Holly tells everyone that she doesn’t remember her parents before she was put in foster care. She let people tell her stories of how they were killed in a car accident, but Holly remembered them and she remembered the night they took her out of the house. She remembered what color the tennis racket her mom broke over her dad’s head was and she remembered the needles on the coffee table.” Gail swallowed and looked up at Perrick hoping that that story was enough to satisfy Perrick.

Perrick smiled like he won. He used his index finger to point at Gail. “Your doctor,” Perrick nodded, “I bet she’s a smart one. I’m sure you taught her to never take a ride from a cab whose company she didn’t recognize. I suppose someone would have to get fake decals for the cab so she’d trust them.”

“How long have you been planning this?” Gail leaned forward and asked.

Perrick shook his head, “I had nothing to do with any abduction.” He put his finger up, “This is speculation.”

“Speculate more,” Gail demanded.

“This is quite a change,” the man leaned back in his chair.

The blonde looked over her shoulder at the mirror. She wanted Swarek to find something. She wanted to be away from that odious man. She wanted to leave the prison and find Holly. She wanted to pick the book up off of the floor and beat Perrick bloody with it. She wanted her baton.

“Was it secret codes?” Gail asked, tilting her head. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. There was an angry smile on her face, “Did you talk in codes? Did you use literary references that the guards didn’t understand? Or did you slip your little minion a how-to guide on rolled up toilet paper?”

Perrick shook his head like he felt sorry for Gail, “What time is it? I’m sure she’s been missing for over fifteen hours now.”

Gail gritted her teeth. It took everything in her body not to jump across the table and throttle the man before her. “This is a waste of time. We know who took her. It won’t take us long to find out where he took her.” Gail stood up and turned toward the door. She hoped the lie was enough to rattle Perrick’s cage.

“Gail,” Perrick menacingly called her. Gail heard the clattering of chains and quickly turned around. Perrick stood from the table and showed her his hands that were free from their shackles, “You’re not going anywhere.” He pulled a small knife from inside his jumpsuit near his chest and held it tightly in his fist.

There was banging on the door. The buzzer repeatedly went off, trying to unlock the door. Swarek was trying to kick the door in while the warden radioed for an emergency response team. Swarek slammed his hand down on the button that unlocked the door and then kicked it. It was budging but not enough to open the door.

“How did you…” Gail trailed off, her thought completing itself. “It was a guard.” Gail turned around and banged on the window, “Swarek find the guard that supervised the visits.”

Swarek hit the intercom, “ERT is on the way.”

“Get Holly!” Gail yelled back. She turned around and saw that Perrick was still looking at her with the knife. She looked around for something to defend herself with. There wasn’t anything in the room, but immovable furniture. She was trapped alone in a room with a man holding a knife who never wanted her to leave him ever again.

Gail couldn’t think of any words to say. The basic hostile situation techniques that she was taught escaped her. All the ones that she’d learned on the job were gone. She was in a small room next to a sabotaged door, with a murderous man.

She blinked as Perrick started walking around the table toward her. Gail slowly backed away from him with her hands up, “You know you’re not coming out of this alive if you try to hurt me.”

“Then we’ll be together forever,” there was a flash of madness in Perrick’s eyes that seemed subdued before.

Gail felt her back hit the wall with Perrick still sizing her up, trying to figure out how to best attack. Gail saw that he was still planning and decided to attack first. Gail rushed him, grabbing his wrist and slamming her against the wall. She felt a punch to her mouth, but threw a few of her own. There was banging on the door while Gail struggled with Perrick over the knife.

Gail felt a hand latch around her throat. She still had Perrick’s knife wielding wrist in her hand, keeping it away from her. Her other hand went to the hand on her throat. Perrick pivoted and pushed Gail back against the wall, knocking the breath out of her.

The perimeter of Gail’s vision started to go dark from lack of oxygen. Through hazy thoughts, Gail knew she had to act quickly. She brought her knee up hard to Perrick’s groin causing him to recoil, removing his hand from her throat. He thrust the knife harder toward Gail, maintaining the adrenaline of the fight to keep going. The knife caught Gail’s forearm as it moved to help her other hand fend off the knife.

Perrick pulled the arm away for a powerful thrust at Gail. There was no way for Gail to stop it completely, but she diverted the stab with her hands on Perrick’s forearm, right into his own shoulder. He howled in pain and tried to distance himself from Gail as quickly as possible, blood pouring out of his shoulder. He stumbled and fell to the ground at the door banged open.

Gail bent over to catch her breath at the ERT team came in. Swarek appeared in the doorway and motioned for Gail to exit the room. Gail stepped around the other officers who were subduing Perrick and tending to his wound. Ever as he was bleeding and being handcuffed on the ground Perrick called, “Gail! Where are you going?!”

She just continued to walk out. Swarek looked her over, “You okay?”

Gail nodded, “Did they find her?” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, finding blood from a split lip leaving a trail on her arm. Then she noticed the cut across her forearm. It was shallow, but it was still bleeding.

Swarek put his hand on her back and guided her out of the observation room, “There was a guard that was in charge of supervising most of Perrick’s visitors who were mostly psychologists. He hasn’t come into work for the past few days and would always take days off on the days Holly came back from San Francisco. Nash shoed the roommate a picture and said it was him for sure.” They continued down the hallway. “His folks left him a cabin right outside of the city a little ways from here. Nash and the SWAT team are on their way out there, but we’re closer.”

Gail started picking up the pace as they walked toward the exit. “How far is it from here?”

“Five minutes,” Swarek told her as they both started running.

The lights flashed and the sirens wailed all the way to the cabin. Gail wrapped gauze around her forearm and tapped it securely as they went along. She took off her uniform shirt that had some of Perrick’s blood on it and put it in the backseat. She pulled on Swarek’s leather jacket that he offered her and made sure her gun was ready.

They were the first ones into the circular driveway, but Gail wasn’t about to wait for the other officer’s to arrive. She got out of the car, followed closely by Swarek. They paused at the door and Swarek nodded to Gail. They kicked in the door together and took to sweeping the small cabin. “Police!” Gail yelled.

However, they were no movement or noise in the cabin. Gail’s eyes looked all around for some sign of Holly. They swept the floor, from the living room to the tiny kitchen and an antiquated bedroom. Gail found a door the led into a basement across the hallway from the bedroom. Gail took out her flashlight and let her gun lead the way down the stairs with Swarek covering her back. She found exactly what she expected. There was a medical table set up with heart monitors and an IV stand. Gail spotted Holly’s sweater hanging on a rusty pipe against the ceiling.

“Hey! Get up!” Swarek called, pointing his gun and his flashlight toward the floor by the examination table. There were sneakers attached to jean clad pant legs sticking out from behind it, but there didn’t seem to be any movement.

Gail made her way down the stairs the rest of the way and walked carefully around the table. It was an unconscious man that Gail had never seen before, but was sure it was the one that kidnapped Holly. He was bleeding from his head and wearing a tan jacket that has black streaks on it, just like Holly’s description. Gail saw the wrench that probably hit him on the ground a few feet away. She walked toward the wrench and passed it.

“There’s a door,” Gail told Swarek and started quickly moving toward it. She stepped up onto the stairs and heaved open the storm door. The door swung open and landed on the ground outside with a loud clap.

The leaves outside had been disturbed in a trail toward the forest and Gail started running, following the trail. “Holly!” She called looking all around the dense forest the surrounded the cabin, “Holly!”

She didn’t get very far from the cabin when she heard a beautiful sound, “Gail?”

Gail whirled around and smiled when she saw Holly, “Holly!” Holly was on her knees, hiding behind a tree with a rock on her hand. Her wrists were still bound in front of her with Velcro straps. She let out a long breath when she saw Gail and dropped the rock. She wiped at her cheek, leaving a dirty streak.

She quickly hopped to her feet and looped her detained hands behind Gail’s neck. Gail put her gun in the holster and just outright dropped her flashlight. She used her free hands to press to Holly’s back and closed her eyes. She felt tears slowly slide down her face.

“You’re okay,” Gail breathed out.

Holly nodded. She pulled away and looked at Gail. She saw Gail’s split lip and asked, “What happened to you?”

Gail shook her head, “It doesn’t matter.” She kissed Holly. “You’re okay.” She kissed Holly again before showering Holly’s face with kisses.

Sirens sounded as the other officers arrived. Holly looked back toward the cabin and saw Swarek walking toward them.

He asked, “Is there anyone else?”

Holly shook her head, “Just the one on the floor.” She took her arms from around Gail’s neck and offered her wrists to Gail so that she could set her free.

Gail pulled the velcro from around Holly’s wrists and tossed it aside. Holly pointed to it as she was rubbing her wrists and started, “Hey, that’s evidence, you should -”

Gail interrupted Holly with a kiss. She felt Holly sigh softly into her mouth and took the opportunity to kiss Holly’s deeper. She felt Holly’s hands take hold of the front of her shirt and pull her closet. Gail gently took Holly’s face in her hands, looking into Holly’s eyes when they slowly opened. Gail’s eyebrows rose and she shook her head, “I don’t care.”

Holly smiled. She kissed Gail and whispered, “Sorry.” She gently wiped away the tear tracks on Gail’s face.

Traci and Chloe ran around the house with their guns drawn and slowed to a stop when they saw Holly and Gail embracing, and Swarek walking back toward the cabin.

“What happened?” Traci asked, holstering her gun.

“Dr. Stewart escaped and knocked the guy out cold,” Swarek gestured to the open storm doors.

Chloe blinked, “Well that’s…anticlimactic.”

Gail shot her a glare and Chloe quickly added, “And totally impressive.”

Holly took one of Gail’s hands and they started walking toward the other officers. Traci gestured behind her, “There’s an ambulance if you need it. Are you okay?”

Holly nodded. “I’m fine.”

Traci hugged Holly, but Gail didn’t let go of Holly’s hand so it was one armed. Then Chloe hugged her.

Holly looked at Gail, “You need it though. Whatever happened to your arm is bleeding through the bandage.” She held up the hand she was holding to examine the arm.

“This guy may need one too,” Swarek called from inside the basement.

Traci looked at the two women holding hands, “Let’s get you back to the station so I can take your statements and you can go home.”

Holly nodded. She and Gail followed Traci back to the front of the house. Holly leaned into Gail with her arm around Gail’s waist. Gail had her arm around Holly, protecting her from the cold. She kissed the side of Holly’s head and whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Holly echoed. She inhaled and exhaled slowly and deeply, finally letting it sink in that everything was okay. She found that she could take care of herself in even the most extreme situations, but she could also count on Gail to be her knight in a leather jacket.


End file.
